Bank of Taiwan chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) has been appointed to take over from Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (林全), who will leave the post on Monday when the Cabinet steps down, while Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) chairman Morgan Hwang (黃營杉), will replace Ho Mei-yueh (何美玥) as Minister of Economic Affairs, CNA reported late last night.
"Lyu said he'll do his best when designated premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) met him in the afternoon," the Bank of Taiwan chairman's secretary said yesterday.
Lin had been invited to serve as minister without portfolio, but he told reporters last night that he decided to decline the offer, citing miscommunications.
Banker
Lyu, 50, has served as vice chairman of the Commission of National Corporations (
In June 2004, he was promoted to chair the nation's largest lender, the Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行). Under Lyu's leadership, the bank announced that it would acquire smaller lender Central Trust of China (中央信託局) as a 100-percent owned business late last year, as part of the government's financial reforms aimed at consolidating the nation's crowded banking sector.
Lyu holds a master's degree in management from Northwestern University.
His ties with the Democratic Progressive Party originated from the dangwai (outside the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT]) period, but these days he chooses to keep his distance from politics, sources said.
Money-spinner
Hwang is expected to bring his experience of turning around money-losing state-run enterprises to the Ministry of Economic Affairs when he takes the helm.
As a former dean of National Taipei University's business school and an executive in several private companies for more than 20 years, Hwang has successfully reformed state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp (台灣菸酒公司) and earned NT$5.2 billion (US$162 million) in after-tax earnings for the company from 2004 to last year, as well as pushing the Taiwan Beer brand to new heights.
The prominent achievement brought greater responsibility for Hwang, who was appointed by the government to take over the chairmanship of Taipower in July last year.
Hwang became the first chairman of Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor after the state-run monopoly was privatized in July 2002.
The 65-year-old Hwang has demonstrated a passion for improving the bureaucratic government sector.
With his proven business management skills and thorough understanding of the business environment, Hwang is expected to bring a new culture of efficiency to the ministry.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
RSS